PoA :: Test Results and Tea with Lupin
by Elburn
Summary: OC, set during time of Prisoner of Azkaban. Lydia Nightingale gets her first "B-", and isn't very happy. Please R


**Prisoner of Azkaban : Test Results and Tea with Lupin**

* * *

Author's Notes: Lydia's an original character. I like the name, "Lydia". In the spirit of the Harry Potter novels, I decided to name her "Nightingale" since a few people had names to do with nature, and also because "Nightingale" is very much British. It comes from Florence Nightingale, to be precise. 

"Kaonashi" or "No-Face" is a reference to "Spirited Away", perhaps my favourite animé film. Kaonashi attracts employees at the Bath House where Sen/Chihiro works by using gold nuggets that he can just... produce magically XD ... then eats them. He doesn't seem to digest them, since he just becomes larger and more bulky, and regurgitates people he's swallowed after Sen/Chihiro gives him a bit of medicine ball from the River God. So, I decided to have him be another creature that the young wizards of Hogwarts must learn about in Defense against the Dark Arts.

Oh, and one other thing if you're reading this while the paragraph starting, "Do I tell him or..." has doubled itself up, ignore it. It should put itself right soon. I'm having issues with formatting.

.-.Fif

* * *

"Not up to your usual standard, Miss Nightingale." 

Lydia Nightingale looked up at Professor Lupin, who was handing back the results of a test from the previous day's class. He nodded curtly to her roll of parchment. "I expected better." Lupin said, his voice… sad, almost disappointed.

The girl looked down at her results. Sixty percent. A 'B-'. Underneath her results, the Professor had written, "_Oh, dear what happened to You?"_

It was too late to try and come up with an explanation, though. Lupin had moved on, and was congratulating the Potter boy on his full marks. The test had been on identifying and dealing with Hinkypunks. Lydia noticed that Lupin had scored through her incorrect answers in red ink, and written the correct answers next to them. Rolling down the parchment scroll, she found the comments left under her test "_Poor. Expected better. A lot here that you should have known. Please try harder next time._" Lydia blushed, reading this. Professor Lupin had been delighted when she had managed 90 percent on the last test, Boggarts, but Hinkypunks just confused her.

Walking to the front of the room, Lupin's gaze swept across the class, and he said, "Most of you did fairly well on your tests, and I'm generally pleased with your results. A few of you, however, could have done better."

At that moment, the bell rang. Lupin smiled, looking up. "Saved by the bell. Class dismissed."

-oOo-

_I can't believe I got 60 percent,_ Lydia thought as she dropped off her bookbag in the gryffindor common room, her stomach seeming to flip as she remembered the red ink on her hastily stowed scroll. Feeling her cheeks burn, she grabbed her books and, after clambering out the common room, began to walk down the corridor, unable to get her mind off the disappointment in her favourite teacher's voice.

_Maybe I should go study?_

With that thought in mind, Lydia resolved to go sit in the library, to comb through her results and write down Lupin's corrections.

Walking down the corridor, her mind elsewhere, she didn't hear the footsteps behind her. "Miss Nightingale," a woman's voice said. Lydia turned and nodded.

"Professor McGonagall." She replied.  
"Using your free period wisely, I hope?" Professor McGonagall asked, staring sternly at Lydia.  
"I was just going to go to the Library." Lydia nodded.  
"Well, seeing as Professor Lupin's class is along that direction, kindly drop off this package, please?" The older woman held out a brown-paper, string-tied parcel, which Lydia decided was probably a book.  
"Um, yes, Ma'am." Lydia said in a small voice, her cheeks flushing all over again as she took the parcel in her arms.  
"Thank you, Miss Nightingale." McGonagall nodded, and walked away.

Save for a lost first year, trying to find his way to Madam Pomfrey's, ("I think I was a bit too heavy-handed with the dried gillyweed."), Lydia's trip to Professor Lupin's office was more or less un-interrupted. The class was empty, so, climbing the stairs, she adjusted her grip on the package, then tried to balance it in one arm. Her legs began to feel slightly shaky, and her hands grew clammy as her heart rate sped up, and Lydia couldn't help noticing her ears burning as her face turned increasingly red, waiting at the door, having just knocked. She adjusted the parcel's position in her arms once again. The door opened.

"Ah, Lydia, come on in." Lupin smiled at her, then walked over to his desk.

As she entered the room, Lydia looked around at the artefacts and books that lined Lupin's office walls.

"Tea? I've just boiled the kettle." Lupin offered, taking a cup from a cupboard in the corner.  
"Um, please." Lydia nodded shyly. She paused, biting her lip. "Uh, Sir… Professor McGonagall asked me to give this to you."  
"Oh, right, just put it on the desk. Must be that book I ordered at the start of term." The professor nodded to his table, and only too happy to relieve her now aching arms, Lydia placed the parcel next to a pile of scrolls.

After a few minutes of silence, Lupin smiled, handing Lydia a cup of tea with milk in it. "Take a seat." He said.  
"Thank You, Sir." Lydia sat down in the only chair that didn't have a pile of parchment on it. As nice as he was being to her, the young student still couldn't shake her feeling of uneasiness. His kindness only seemed to exacerbate the guilt she felt about scoring so badly on her test.

"We'll be studying the Kaonashi, next week." Lupin said. "Also known as…?"  
"The No-Face Demon." Lydia answered, seeing this as a chance to possibly redeem herself.  
"Very good." The Professor nodded.  
"It offers gold to people in order to lure them towards it." Lydia continued, "And then eats them."  
"Though it doesn't digest them, it's important to note." Lupin added. He nodded again. "Yes, very good." He murmured, and took a sip of his tea.

Lydia looked down into her cup, and saw her sad reflection staring back up at her.

"What's the matter?" Lupin asked suddenly.  
"Hm?" The girl blinked, looking up, as if startled.  
"Is something wrong?"

_Do I tell him, or…? _Lydia thought. "Please, Sir… it's just… that's the first time I've come close to failing a test." She blushed, heat returning once more to her face.  
"Ah, yes." Lupin nodded. "I have to say, I was a little surprised. You usually do better."  
"Yes, Sir." Lydia replied, looking down.  
"It _is_ just a test, however." He told her, and reached out as if to put a hand on her shoulder, before thinking better of it. "Don't worry too much. It doesn't count towards your final grade. We all have weaknesses, you know."  
"Yes, Sir." Lydia felt some of the shyness leave her, as Lupin sat there, smiling at her encouragingly.  
"It was a nice try." Lupin said, still smiling. "I think I would have been more worried, had you not even made an attempt at the questions."

Lydia nodded. Most teachers tended to shout at students if they missed out questions. She wasn't willing to let that happen. Even if she had scored low, it was almost a relief to know that Lupin was pleased she had at least written down answers. Now, she was almost glad Professor McGonagall had sent her to Lupin's office, even if it meant not getting her quiet time to study.

Lydia smiled, and downed the last of her tea as the bell rang.

"What subject are you off to, now?" Lupin asked.  
"Potions." Lydia shivered a little, the thought of sharing a class with Malfoy repulsing her.  
Lupin chuckled at her reaction, to her surprise. "Good luck. Best be off, then."  
"Thank you for the tea." Lydia added, handing her cup over to the Professor.  
"Not a problem." Lupin replied, taking the cup in his hands. Still smiling, Lydia hurried out the office, down the steps and out through the door.

That hadn't been so bad…

* * *


End file.
